CHINA'S NEW WAY TO HIDE DEBT

Under pressure to trim borrowings, China’s companies have found a way to reduce their lofty debt burdens -- even if some of the risk remains. Sales of perpetual notes - long-dated securities that can be listed as equity rather than debt on balance sheets given that in theory they could never mature -- have soared to a record this year as Beijing zeros in on leverage and the threat it poses to the financial system. The bonds are so popular that issuance by non-bank firms has jumped to the equivalent of 433 billion yuan ($65 billion), more than seven times sales by companies in the U.S.